Paper clip dispenser



20, 1958 o. E. PHILLIPS PAPER CLIP DISPENSER Filed June 3, 1954 INVENTOR. ORVILLE E. PHILLIPS BY @2124; GJWMS, $7,129,,

4% 21070-6? gig/oz TORNEYS United States Patent PAPER CLIP DISPENSER Orville E. Phillips, New York, N. Y. Application June 3, 1954, Serial No. 434,158 6 Claims. (Cl. 29-411 This invention relates to dispensers and applicators and more particularly to a novel dispenser and applicator of paper clips of the generally coiled wire type.

Paper clips of the coiled wire type are very useful objects in a modern business office as well as in a home but the problem of keeping an adequate supply of them in tidy and useful form is nearly insolvable. Furthermore, the application of such paper clips to a sheaf of papers nearly always results in time consuming fumbling to disentangle one clip from another and to separate the coils of the clip so that it may be applied to a sheaf of papers. All of this can become specially onerous when large numbers of clips are to be applied.

I have invented a novel and very useful paper clip dispenser and applicator which eliminates all of 'the foregoing difiiculties and reduces the task of applying paper clips to sheaves of paper to a very simple operation. The dispenser and applicator of my invention comprises a frame and enclosure which may be of conveniently small size and of attractive appearance. Within this frame there is located a magazine adapted to contain in orderly arrangement a large number of paper clips of the generally coiled type. This magazine has a dispensing aperture toward which the paper clips are urged by suitable spring means. Means are provided for ejecting through this dispensing aperture a clip contained in the magazine. There are also means for directing in the plane of ejection a first coil of a clip being ejected and there are means for displacing from the plane of ejection a second coil of a clip being ejected. The cooperation of the directing means and displacing means serves to spread the first and second coils of the paper clip to enable a sheaf of papers to which the clip is to be applied to be received between the spread coils.

The ejector means and the displacing means may be cooperatively actuated by a suitable handle extending outside the frame and conveniently accessible to the operator and the entire mechanism may be provided with one or more bias springs which return the moving parts to an initial position to ready the dispenser and applicator to applying another clip. For a full understanding of my invention attention is directed to the following description and the accompanying drawings which are illustrative of one embodiment.

In these drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevation in section along the line 1-1 of Fig. 2 partly broken away of a paper clip dispenser and applicator according to my invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation in sectional view of the dispenser and applicator taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in section of the dispenser and applicator taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is another fragmentary view in section of the dispenser and applicator taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

plicator of Fig. 1.

Referring now to Fig. 1, an enclosed frame 1 of suitable shape is provided with resilient feet 2. There is a well 3 in this frame which serves as a magazine for paper clips which are stacked therein in orderly arrangement and in this embodiment each clip is oriented so that the terminal end of the inner coil of the paper clip is to the left as shown in Fig. 1, i. e. to'the rear in Fig. 2. The entire stack of paper clips is urged toward the bottom of the magazine by a suitable spring 4 held in compression between the well cover 5 and the uppermost clip in the magazine. The well cover 5 may be slid in and out of place along slotted tracks 6 to give access to the well for refilling it with clips.

The bottomof the well 3 is only partially closed by a slotted end wall 7 which extends approximately half way across the well as seen in Figs. 1 and 4. The open portion of the bottom end of the well is the dispensing aperture and is adjacent a sheaf receiving slot 8 in the frame 1. Clips are dispensed through the aperture and into the slot 8 by an ejecting means which comprises a reciprocating T-shaped ejector 9, the horizontal crosspiece of the T entering the well 3 through a slot 12 in the rear wall 11 of the magazine. This slot 12 lies in the same plane as the bottommost clip in the stack of paper clips in the well. The stem 10 of the T-shaped crosspiece slides in the slot 13 of the bottom wall 7 of the well. The bottom edge of the stem of T-shaped ejector 9 is fixed to an ejector rack bar 14 having a set of teeth 15 disposed along its bottom side to mate with the teeth of a driving gear 16 rotatably journalled on an axle 17 supported between the opposite side walls of the enclosed frame 1. As will be clearly seen in Fig. 2, the magazine Well is disposed toward the right hand side wall of the enclosed frame 1 and the ejector bar 14 engages that portion of the gear to the right. However, the teeth of gear 16 extend substantially across the full internal width of the enclosed frame.

The teeth on the left hand end of the gear 16 as seen in Fig. 2 are engaged by a driving rack 18 which carries an operating handle 20 mounted on a shaft 21 extending through a vertical slot 19 in the left hand side wall of the frame 1. This slot serves to guide the operating handle and to maintain the driving rack 18 in engagement with the gear 16.

It is now apparent that upward and downward movement of the handle 20 causes the rack bar 18 to drive the ejector bar 14 in a reciprocating motion through gear 16. Thus, ejector 9 is reciprocated in the bottom ofthe well to eject clips one at a time through the dispensing aperture and into the slot 8. Preferably I provide a tension spring 29 connected between the rear wall of the frame 1 and the rear end of ejector rack 14 to supply the return motion to the ejector mechanism.

For the purposes of the following portion of the description it should be noted that the dispenser and applicator mechanism is shown in all figures at an intermediate position of its operating cycle; that is, handle 26 has been partially depressed to begin the ejection of clip 24 from the magazine. For a description of the clip coil spreader means of this embodiment of my dispenser and applicator attention is directed to Fig. 3 which is a fragmentary view taken along the section line 33 of Fig. 1 and to Fig. 5. There is fixed adjacent the front wall 22 of the magazine well 3a tine 23 located and adapted to underlie the outermost coil of the bottommost clip 24 of the stack of paper clips, This fixed tine cooperates with the lip 25 to retain the outermost coil of the clip in the plane of ejection as the ejector bar 9 advances to the right in Fig. 1 to eject the paper clip through the dispensing aperture of the magazine. A movable spreader tine 26 having a straight portion'27 and a curved portion 28 is fixed to a pivot lever 30 which pivots about the axis of screw 31 secured in the side wall 32 of the frame 1. The pivot lever is cooperatively linked to the ejector mechanism by a link bar 33 which is pivotally connected at one end to the driving rack 18 by screw 34 and at the other end to the pivot lever 30 by screw 35,. To insure a slight delay in the commencement of the pivoting action of the lever 30 after the operating handle has begun to drive the rack 18 downward, I preferably provide a slot 36 in the link 33 to effect a floating connection. The desirability of this floating connection will be readily apparent upon description of the opertaion of the dispenser and applicator.

The orientation of the spreader tine 26 is such that when a paper clip is in position to be ejected and the ejector rack 14 is in the fully retracted position toward the left in Fig. 1, the curved portion 28 of the tine extends upwardly and in front of the inner coil of the paper clip as is shown in Fig. 3. In this position the curved portion of the tine is between the opposite sides of the outermost coil of the clip. As the ejector rack 14 carries the ejector forward, i. e. to the right in Fig. l in response to a downward pressure on the operating handle which causes the driving rack 18 to rotate the gear 16 in the clockwise direction, the ejector 10 engages the rearmost portion of the clip and propels it forward. As previously stated the curved portion 28 of the movable tine 26 extends upwardly and rearwardly with respect to the advancing clip in front of the inner coil of the clip and as the clip moves forward, the inner coil is intercepted by the curved portion 28 and deflected downwardly out of the plane of the outer coil of the clip. Due to the floating pivot provided by the screw sliding in the slot 36, the driving and hence the ejecting operation can proceed until the inner coil is firmly engaged by the curved portion 23 of the tine 26 and has been deflected out of the plane of ejection followed by the outer coil of the clip. Then as the end of the free motion of the floating pivot is reached the pivot lever 30 is caused to rotate about the pivot screw 31 in a counterclockwise manner as seen in Fig. l which rotates the spreader time so that the curved portion is substantially parallel to the plane of the outer coil of the clip.

Meanwhile, the ejection of the clip is progressing and the outer coil has passed over the top of the straight portion of the movable tine while the inner coil has passed below the straight portion. The thickness of the straight portion of the movable tine is such that the inner coil of the clip is caused to be deflected further out of the plane of the outer coil by an amount suflicient to permit a sheaf of papers inserted into the receiving slot 8 of the frame 1 to be received between the inner and outer coils of the paper clip. The fixed tine 23 also assists in separating the inner and outer coils of the clip in the same manner as the straight portion of tine 26. The ejection of the clip from the magazine continues until the straight portion of the movable tine has cleared the terminal end of the inner coil of the clip and the entire movable tine has passed under the rear loop of the outer coil. At this stage the clip has been fully applied to the sheaf of papers inserted in the slot 3 and the sheaf may be withdrawn from the slot. Upon release of the operating handle the spring 29 exerts a force on the, ejector rack 14 which draws it back to its starting position. This return motion is transmitted through the gear 16' to the driving rack 18 and subsequently through the connecting link 33 to the pivot lever 30. With the complete withdrawal of the ejector 10 from the magazine 3, the next clip in the magazine is pressed down by the spring 4 into position to be ejected and the dispenser and applicator is ready to repeat its function.

It is seen that I have invented an extremely useful, simple and compact mechanism for storing, dispensing and. applying a large number of paper clips in a very convenient and rapid manner. My new dispenser and applicator eliminates the unsightliness of the usual random collection of paper clips to he found about an ofiice desk. It also makes the application of paper clips to sheaves of paper a pleasant and simple operation rather than the usually tedious and time consuming matter that it is when paper clips must be applied singly by hand. The advantages of my new machine become increasingly apparent when it is necessary to assemble many sheaves of paper with paper clips in a fairly short period.

While I have illustrated and described only one embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be clearly understood that the scope of the invention is not to be limited by the details of that embodiment, but is solely to be determined by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. ,A dispenser and applicator for coiled wire paper clips comprising a frame having a sheaf receiving slot therein, a paper clip magazine fixed to said frame and having a clip dispensing aperture adjacent said sheaf receiving slot, means for singly ejecting through said dispensing aperture and into said receiving slot paper clips contained in said magazine, a lip adjacent said dispensing aperture, a fixed tine adjacent said dispensing aperture and adapted to cooperate with said lip to maintain in the plane of the receiving slot an outer coil of a clip being ejected, a pivoted lever mounted in said frame, a coil spreading tine fixed to said lever and having a curved portion and a straight portion, said straight portion extending from said lever to be interposed between portions of the, inner and outer coils of a clip being ejected, said curved portion being fixed to said straight portion at an angle thereto and constructed and arranged to intercept the inner coil of a clip being ejected during the initial portion of the ejection and before the lever is rotated and thereafter to be rotated by the lever into a plane substantially parallel to the outer coil during the latter portion of the ejection of a clip, operating means for actuating said ejector and rotating said lever.

2. A paper clip dispenser and applicator comprising a frame, means in said frame for advancing a coiled wire paper clip along a predetermined path, means for retaining an outer coil of said clip in a fixed plane, a pivotally mounted member cooperatively linked to said advancing means, an L-shaped tine fixed to said member, a first portion of said tine projecting from said member in a direction generally parallel to the fixed plane, and a second portion of said tine fixed to said first portion to lie, during the initial stages of advancement of a clip, oblique to the fixed plane and, after said member has pivoted during subsequent advancement of the clip, to lie substantially parallel and closely adjacent the fixed plane.

3. A paper clip dispenser and applicator comprising a frame, means in said frame for advancing a coiled wire paper clip along a predetermined path, means for retaining an outer coil of said clip in a fixed plane, a pivotally mounted member cooperatively linked to said advancing means, an L-shaped tine fixed to said member, a first portion of said tine projecting from said member in a direction generally parallel to the fixed plane, and a second portion of said tine fixed to said first portion to extend, during the initial stage of advancement of a clip, generally oblique to the fixed plane and rearward with respect to the advancing clip to intercept and deflect an inner coil thereof and, after said member has pivoted during advancement of the clip to extend substantially parallel to the fixed plane while said first portion of said tine is interposed between portions of an inner and an outer coil of the advancing clip.

4. A paper clip dispenser and applicator comprising a frame, means in said frame for advancing a coiled wire paper clip along a predetermined path, means for retaining, an outer coil of said clip in a fixed plane, a

pivotally mounted member cooperatively linked to said advancing means, an L-shaped tine fixed to said memher, a first portion of said tine projecting from said member in a direction generally parallel to the fixed plane, a portion of said tine extending oblique to the fixed plane and rearwardly with respect to the advancing clip to intercept and deflect from the fixed plane an inner coil of the clip, and another portion of said tine extending generally parallel to the fixed plane to be interposed between a portion of an outer coil of the advancing clip and a portion of the deflected inner coil thereof.

5. A dispenser and applicator for coiled wire paper clips according to claim 1 in which said means for ejecting paper clips and said operating means comprise a driving member slidably mounted within said frame and having a rack thereon, said driving member also being provided with an operating handle which extends out-' thereof in the plane of a clip positioned in said magazine 6. A paper clip dispenser and applicator according to claim 2 in which said pivotally mounted member comprises a lever mounted in said frame for pivoting motion in a plane perpendicular to said fixed plane and in which I said means for advancing a paper clip comprises a driving member slidably mounted within said frame and having a rack thereon, said driving member also being provided with an operating handle which extends outside said frame, a clip ejector member slidably mounted Within said frame and having a longitudinal portion thereof in the plane of a clip positioned in said magazine in alignment with said dispensing aperture, said ejector member also being provided with a rack, a gear which engages the racks of said operating and said ejector members, and means for cooperatively connecting said lever to said operating means such that reciprocation of said operating member causes said lever to pivot about its mounting.

l leterences Cited in the file of this patent 

